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t’s called “leapfrogging” — and when it’s not a schoolyard game, it ends up on your property tax bill.

Leapfrogging, when it applies to police salaries, is a practice whereby a police service negotiates a lucrative contract with one police force — and then other forces use it to get a slightly better deal.

Municipalities across the province are struggling to pay the ever-increasing cost of policing brought about largely by a clause in the OPP contract that guarantees it will be the highest paid police force in the province.

According to the Ontario Association of Police Service Boards (OAPSB), policing costs in Ontario have risen at twice the rate of inflation over the last 15 years, with wages and benefits accounting for 80%-85% of overall policing costs.

Every 1% increase in police pay adds between $32-$35 million to the $4.5 billion it costs to police this province.

Ken East, president of OAPSB, says it’s time to stop the leapfrogging effect and take that clause out of the OPP contract.

“Our members tell us they’d like other factors, such as cost of living and municipal ability to pay being important factors in the arbitration process,” he said.

He also suggests civilians and private security firms could do some of the work now done by uniformed officers.

In a recent letter to Premier Kathleen Wynne, he asked her to amend the arbitration process to bring more balance to the factors arbiters consider.

“We’re asking the province to exercise some moral suasion to influence municipalities on wage settlements,” East said in a phone interview.

“The premier during the election and since has talked about public sector wage restraint and we’re asking her and her ministers to encourage municipalities to exercise that same restraint,” he said.

Many small municipalities now rely on OPP for policing — and have to pay a portion of the cost. With very small tax bases, some small-town homeowners are being hit with massive property tax hikes.

East says the latest proposal in his township, Douro-Dummer near Peterborough, would hike taxes a massive 13%.

“That’s a substantial hit,” he says.

He also points out that the cost of living is much higher in the GTA than some other parts of the province and says that cost of living factors should be considered when negotiating deals.

The OPP got a huge 8% hike last time around and a new contract is about to be negotiated.

A first-class constable with three years on the job now makes $90,621.

Community safety minister Yasir Naqvi responded to me by e-mail.

“I look forward to meeting with the OAPSB to discuss the cost of policing, which is also being discussed by the Future of Policing Advisory Committee,” he said.

“Our government set up this committee to bring together all our policing partners, including the chiefs of police, police services boards, police associations and municipalities,” he said.

“Through this committee and its working groups, we have been working with our policing partners, including the OAPSB, to continue building effective, efficient and sustainable police service delivery in Ontario,” he said.

Well, that’s all very well, but he doesn’t mention costs. How easy will it be for the government to hold the line on police pay when the Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA) paid for ads trashing PC leader Tim Hudak in the last election?

And no, this is not a cop-bashing diatribe. As someone whose father was a police officer, I have great respect for the work they do and I think they should be fairly paid and fairly treated.

At some point, though, taxpayers in small communities will reach the limits of what they can afford.

This will be one of the first big tests of Wynne’s assertion there’s no new money in the kitty for public sector pay hikes.